In recent years, the performance and function of vehicle airbags have been improving as attention to the safety of vehicles increases. It is desired to standardize a system that detects seating conditions of a vehicle occupant and controls airbag inflation based on the detected condition. The seating conditions include seating position and posture of the occupant.
A seating condition detecting system has load sensors and a seating condition detecting unit. The load sensors detect loads on springs that support a seat at four positions, right front, left front, right rear and left rear, from underneath. The seating condition detecting unit detects a seating condition of a vehicle occupant based on the loads measured by the load sensors.
However, if the seating condition of the vehicle occupant is not properly determined, the airbag cannot be appropriately inflated for the occupant.